


Crossroads and runways

by Ceciliedr



Series: In another life [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Batbrothers (DCU), Fluff and Angst, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason Todd is Robin, Light Angst, POV Jason Todd, Protective Jason Todd, Tim is tiny and Jason is getting big brother feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:00:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27711041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ceciliedr/pseuds/Ceciliedr
Summary: Jason is on his way to Etiopia when a little kid stops him at the airport. Their conversation has the potential to change everything, but will it?
Relationships: Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Series: In another life [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2046326
Comments: 32
Kudos: 396





	Crossroads and runways

**Author's Note:**

> Heads up; the author has never read a Batman comic and most of her knowledge stems from fanfiction.

Jason nearly decks the person in automatic response when a hand grabs the back of his hoodie. Only restraining himself at the last second. Glad he did, because the offender is just a kid, and a scrawny little thing at that.

“What do you want?” Jason tears out his headphones, not in the mood to play nice. He has a plane to catch.

The kid looks up at him with wide eyes. Big blue orbs under messy black hair. Wetting his lips as his eyes dart around. He’s absolutely tiny. Jason’s met kids in the ally with more meat on their bones, which is extra strange when the kids clothes look to be good quality.

“Kid?” Jason keeps his voice gentler this time. But the kid still seems to all of a sudden find his own shoelaces to be the most interesting thing in the world. He’s clutching a black backpack to his chest and has yet to relinquish his iron-grip on the red fabric of Jason’s hoddie. Meaning the two of them are much closer than he would prefer.

Jason takes a breath, bending his knees so they are closer to eye-level. “Are you lost little guy?”

The kid shakes his head venomously. Once again staring at the many people hurrying past them towards the security check-in. Jason doesn’t have time for this and they are starting to get curious looks.

“What’s your name?”

“Tim,” his voice is firm, albeit nearly too low to pick up. Jason slowly puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Okay Tim, why don’t you tell me why you grabbed me?”

The kid looks around again. “Not here.”

“What’s wrong with here?” Jason lifts an eyebrow, watching the kid squirm.

“Too many people.” Finally spills out of him.

“Trying to kidnap me?” Jason asks, only half-joking. Because he’s still the adopted son of a billionaire, whether or not Bruce regrets that decision at the moment.

The kid gapes at him. “What? No.” Jason ruffles his hair, just to get rid of the mixture of shock and horror painted across Tim’s face. The little guy presses into his touch, before seemingly catching himself, face coloring slightly.

“Okay kiddo, what about the nice corner over there?” Jason points towards a half-hidden nock next to the windows. He might be warier, if the kid wasn’t about as threatening as a kitten.

Tim nods a marches towards the spot without losing his grip on Jason. Who follows, feeling faintly amused for the first time in a while.

“So?” Jason leans one shoulder against the wall. The kid finally lets him go, instead wringing his hands around the backpack. He opens and shuts his mouth several times. Jason discreetly checks the airport clock, he’s cutting it close if he wants to be in good time.

Another ten seconds passes. Jason lets out a sigh. “Kid I don’t got all day here.”

“I know who you are.” Is blurted out. Jason just raises his eyebrow again.

“You and half of Gotham, the press made sure of that.”

Tim shakes his head again. “I know who you really are.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

The kid hesitates, looks around, and hesitates again. Before leaning up towards Jason’s ear, who decides to humor him.

It’s like someone dumped a bucket of ice water over his head, when the whispered words ‘you’re Robin’ registers.

“Good one.” Jason’s voice sounds a little weird, but his half-smirk is somewhat believable. The kid just stomps his foot and wrinkles his nose like Jason is being purposely annoying. It has no right to look that cute.

“I know who you are.” Tim insists.

“Nah kid, I’m Wonder Woman.”

“No you’re not.” His voice drops nearly too low to hear, the kid even angles his face away from the cameras. “You’re the boy wonder, Batman’s partner.”

“Not any more kid.” Jason huffs, because there is no point in further denying it. The kid sounds certain enough that he probably got some sort of proof.

“How did you find out?” Or put another way, how much shit are they all in? Why did someone send a kid to what? Blackmail him? There is no way someone who looks to be about ten years old figured it out on his own. Someone else must-

“Only a flying Grayson can do a quadruple summersault, I figured it out from there.” The kid clings to his backpack even tighter. “I never told anyone.”

So maybe a kid could put the pieces together and unearth their secret on his own. Figures Dick’s flair for the dramatic would out them. It’s the golden boy’s fatal flaw. Jason still has questions, a gazillion of them in fact. But the kid looks like he expects to be hit and that- just no.

“Smart one aren’t you.” Jason ruffles the kid’s hair again, answering Tim’s shy smile with a grin of his own. “So why you hunt me down?”

The kid’s entire face sombers, before determination takes over his features. Spine straight. A stubborn set to his jaw and blue eyes filled with a new spark.

“I know you’re innocent.” 

Jason all but chokes on air, sucking in a huge breath. The kid can’t mean- there is no way that-

“I was there that night, taking pictures.” Tim’s entire face goes red. “I saw it. You didn’t push him and I have proof of it.”

The kid looks up at Jason with big earnest eyes, biting his lip and Jason- pulls Tim into a hug. Burring his face in the kid’s hair, blinking away the pressure behind his eyes. Arms hesitantly wrap around his middle, Tim almost boring into his front.

The vice around Jason’s chest loosens. It’s not gone, but it’s like he can finally breathe again. And yet, it really changes nothing.

“Thanks kid.” He holds on a few seconds longer, before gently letting go. The kid’s reaction to touch is not the best sign and Jason will look into that when he gets back. Another glance at the clock hurries him along.

Jason ruffles Tim’s hair a third time. “It means a lot. But I still have a plane to catch. You have a way to get home alright?”

For the first time the kids look truly uncertain. “But I have proof.”

“Which is awesome and we are definitely looking at your pictures together when I get back.” No chance the kid just happened to be there with a camera when Jason needed it, there is more to that story. “But right now, I still need to catch my plane.”

He believes Tim, hell the pictures are probably in the backpack the other has yet to let go of. But the fact that he can now proof Bruce wrong, doesn’t change the fact that his father didn’t believe him in the first place, didn’t trust him.

“But you don’t need to run away anymore.” The kid sounds almost desperate and Jason pulls him into another hug, despite being very aware of the seconds ticking away.

“Don’t worry Timmers, I’m running towards something better.” A parent that actually wants him. “But I promise to come back for you.”

“You promise?” And the kid looks so young when his blue eyes are wide and hopeful like that. Jason kinda wants to wrap him in blankets and stuff him full of homecooked meals until he stops looking like skin and bones. Jason still has nightmares about being so hungry, it felt like his insides ate themselves.

“I swear it. Now give me your number so I can find you again.” The kid rattles it off and Jason quickly scribbles it down on his notepad. Turning on his own phone is just asking Bruce to track him, if the man even cares enough to do so.

He’s completely out of buffer time, so Jason squishes the kid’s checks together with a grin, enjoying the pout that earns him.

“Stay out of trouble until I get back, okay?”

“Okay.”

With a last hair ruffle, the black mob looking more like a bird’s nest at this point, Jason waves goodbye. Powerwalking towards security. Entering the line he casts one last look back. The kid is still watching him, hugging the backpack to his chest. He looks so small in the middle of the sterile and streamlined architecture that make up the airport.

Jason gives the kid a grin and a two-fingered salute, getting a small smile in return.

Something tugs at his chest, urging him to go back, to make absolutely sure the kid is okay. Jason pushes it aside. He needs to find his mom first. He can take care of his little stalker afterwards.

**Author's Note:**

> Jason never does make it back from that trip. And we all know why. But maybe he still gets to keep his promise.
> 
> I can just imagine everybody who knows what happens next screaming at Jason the entire time😅


End file.
